While school board members could not bring back all previously cut programs and maintain fiscal responsibility, they did take a step in that direction Thursday by adopting a plan to bring back physical education classes and extend the school day back to seven hours.

The board’s action includes hiring three additional P.E. teachers, plus two additional teachers for the Junior High and some funds for both Sports and Music Booster groups. The cost of restoring these five positions will be about $257,000 a year.

Beginning next fall, the school day will be from 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

“I’m very excited by this,” said Superintendent Kevin Lipke. “Bringing back that extra hour of school was one of my main goals. The kids deserve this and this plan was what the administration was recommending,” he said.

The Junior High has one P.E. teacher already and one of three new P.E. teachers will go there, while the other two will split time among the three other grade schools. State mandates require P.E. be provided three days a week to students. The district has not been in compliance since the previous cuts were made three years ago.

The Explore teacher will allow for instruction of students while not in P.E. and the other position will offer extra reading instruction.

Bringing back art and music instruction would have cost an additional $180,000 a year for two teachers in each subject, while bringing those four teachers, plus an administrator and special education teacher would have cost more than $600,000 per year.

“We have to worry about the fiscal future of the district, that’s a reality and we don’t know what the state will do, but we shouldn’t base everything on that fear,” Lipke said during his presentation of options for the board to consider.

After more discussion, carried over from the January meeting, the board unanimously approved the $257,000 option.

Prior to the vote, Kevin Heid of Stifel-Nicolaus, a brokerage and investment-banking firm, made a presentation to the board concerning the issuance of working cash bonds.

Because of the weather, his talk was abbreviated, but he basically said the board would be in good shape issuing about a $1 million bond, which could be used over three years.

The district’s current bond debt sits at about $97,000 and is due to expire next year. A final full payment on that bond will be made in December, with the remainder paid next year.

“You have PTELL, or tax caps and that limits how much you can take out in bonds, because it limits how much you can levy to pay them back. For this district, the maximum you could levy is about $293,000 a year. And you should issue the bonds for a three-year period.”

Page 2 of 2 - He said because the current bond is falling off, replacing that with a new bond would not bring a tax rate increase.

“If you let the bond levy fall off, nobody remembers the decrease, but then if you need to issue bonds in another year or so, everybody remembers an increase,” Heid said.

He noted that the district looks to be in pretty good shape financially and the superintendent added that even with lower general state aid, the district might fare better than others because of retirements, attrition and cost-saving measures he is taking. Lipke added that he is taking a “hard line” with vendors supplying services to the school district.

The board took no action on issuing working cash bonds, but the financial projections of the district’s fiscal health over the next few years showed the added positions and bond money.

Adding to the fiscal uncertainty will be the outcome of the April 9 referendum seeking a 1-cent increase in the sales tax for the county. The increase would raise the current general merchandise sales tax from 6.25 cents per every $1 spent to 7.25 cents per every $1.

“We just can’t wait to see what happens in April, because we need to start working on schedules now if we are bringing programs back,” Lipke said.

The superintendent stated a countywide committee has formed and is being led by Jim Drengwitz, former principal at Pontiac Township High School.

“The committee will be working to get the word out that this increase is needed for all the school buildings.”

The increase, if approved, would go to each district in the county on a per-student basis. The money can only be used for building maintenance and improvements.

Lipke said a life-safety committee and the company Ameresco have been working on prioritizing the needs of Pontiac’s four school buildings. He said initial results show that all work would cost about $11 million.

Josh DeLong, principal at Washington School, took school board members, media and others in attendance on a tour of his building.

He pointed out several rooms where roof leaks had damaged classroom ceiling tiles and cracks and buckling in floor tiles. He said the older portion of the building has poor plumbing and heating and that the hallway ceilings need to be replaced.

“The school also looks a little institutional and I wish we could paint the walls, preferably in school colors. Unlike at Lincoln School, where we saw all the improvements recently completed, this building needs lots of work.”